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Influencers and their influence on the Social Media

As human beings we all trust our friends and family with regards of their opinion about a variety of topics. Thus, people may trust their friends and families’ opinions with regards of a variety of products and services as well.

As Social Media number of users increase, also the number of people who influence others increase. These people who influence others (“influencers”) might be seen as “familiar” for specific consumers. That is, some people may be influenced by others regarding a specific product, service or brand. So, these influencers could be seen as “family” or “friends” for some consumers and influence in their final decision of purchasing that product. This means that a Social Media user could be influenced by someone on the internet (the influencer) in the decision of buying a specific product or service.

Influencer definition:

People who influence internet users because of their passion and sometimes professional knowledge on specific topics, brands and/or products. These people use the Web 2.0 as a way to speak to other internet users and express their opinion and knowledge on specific topics. Therefore, these persons could be selected as ambassadors for a variety of brands and their products. So, they can share information about brands and products with people from their community.

Types of influencers:

The networker (social butterfly):

A person who is famous because of the high number of followers he/she possess.

Celebrities:

Famous people of different types who are prescriptors because of their profile, becoming ambassadors of a specific brand

Opinion leader:

These people are trustworthy because of their knowledge on specific topics. So, they can become great ambassadors for a brand.

Communicators:

These are the bloggers, who have an opinion but they are not necessarily opinion leaders. Thus, they may have a huge number of followers, but they might need to be paid in order to become influencers of a page.

Explorers (Discoverers):

These influencers are always searching for different trends and brands to talk about, sharing their opinions on the social media

Consumers:

These are a different type of influencers, who share their opinions about products and services on the social media although they may not have a strong influence or a high number of followers

Reporters:

These influencers are always giving information about a brand’s news on their own communities.

Which other types of influencers can you think about? Which one do you identify yourself with?

Write down your comments as I believe that this is an exciting topic to talk about.